The EMPower Breastfeeding initiative is pleased to share the second issue of the EMPower Newsletter. This newsletter was created as a means of communicating exciting initiative related information to our partners and colleagues in the field to keep you abreast of our progress. We thank you for your support and look forward to sharing many more successes with you!

Henry Ford Hospital is located in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit is a metropolitan area that is home to 4.3 million people, making it the largest city in the state. In 1896, the first car was manufactured here leading Detroit to earn the name of the Motor City. Detroit also has had a tremendous impact on modern music. Berry Gordy Jr. developed the “Motown sound” here and techno music also originated in the city. Additionally, Detroit is known as the sports capital of the Midwest and is home to the Detroit Lions, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Pistons, and Detroit Red Wings.

Exterior of Henry Ford Hospital

Henry Ford hospital is the flagship facility of the Henry Ford Health System, whose mission is to improve people’s lives through excellence in the science and art of health care and healing. In 2015, the health system served more than 99,700 patients admitted to its hospitals. Henry Ford Hospital is an 877 bed tertiary care hospital recognized for clinical excellence in cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, sports medicine, multi-organ transplants, and cancer treatment.

Henry Ford Women’s Health Services obstetrical team delivers more than 3,700 babies each year offering memorable experiences in comfortable, private rooms. Henry Ford Hospital’s mother-infant dyad reflects the diverse population of the community. The Henry Ford Hospital patient breakdown is more than 60% African American, 15% Hispanic, 10% Arabic and 10% white. As part of their comprehensive obstetrics care, Henry Ford offers both breast feeding classes and lactation consults to help mothers and babies get off to a great start.

Henry Ford’s Baby Friendly Collaborative Committee

Henry Ford’s commitment to positively impacting the health outcomes of mothers and their babies continues to grow through their participation in the EMPower Initiative. Through the EMPower Initiative, Henry Ford has seen an increase in both breastfeeding initiation and exclusivity rates, along with increased patient satisfaction related to breast feeding support. Sue Butts-Dion, QI Coach for Henry Ford’s EMPower work, was struck by how the leaders of the initiative were able to take a complex project and break it down into manageable parts. “I was impressed with how the multi-disciplinary committee used the quality improvement principle of breaking down the complex system of supporting mothers and infants into processes that they could test changes on using Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. It is often the tendency of organizations to want to implement everything at once and Henry Ford demonstrated how slowing down can sometimes ultimately help you go faster.”

The Henry Ford Team hopes that the implementation of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and achieving Baby Friendly Hospital designation will improve prenatal breastfeeding education, increase the number of women who initiate and exclusively breastfeed their infants, improve health care provider’s education and ability to support breastfeeding women, and increase the quality and quantity of community support available to women after discharge from the hospital, so that they can achieve their infant feeding goals.

St. Luke’s home is the beautiful Lehigh Valley, which edges both the Appalachian Mountains and historic Pennsylvania Dutch Country, making it one of the beautiful, scenic, and prosperous areas of the country. The Lehigh Valley boasts the third largest population center in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and is the fastest growing region in the state, with a population totaling more than 650,000. The Valley is comprised of three main cities: Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, forming the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan area, the 64th most populated metropolitan area in the United States. In 2014, the

Leigh Valley was recognized as being the second best performing region of its size for economic development. Additionally the Valley is a center of post-secondary education and is home to Cedar Crest College, DeSales University, Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Moravian College, Muhlenberg College, and Penn State Lehigh Valley.

St. Luke’s University Health Network is a non-profit, regional, fully integrated, nationally recognized network providing services at seven hospitals in Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks, and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and in Warren County, New Jersey. Under the leadership of Richard A. Anderson, President and CEO, the network has grown to include a system of more than 1,000 beds and more than 200 outpatient care locations. With more than 10,000 employees, St. Luke’s is the Lehigh Valley’s second largest employer. St. Luke’s was recently awarded the prestigious 2016 100 Top Hospital award from Truven Health Analytics, making it the only regional recipient chosen from more than 5,000 hospitals nationwide. Furthermore, its Allentown and Bethlehem campuses were among only 15 hospitals in the country that were recognized in the Major Teaching Hospital category.

St. Luke’s Allentown, PA Campus

St. Luke’s Bethlehem, PA Campus

St. Luke’s delivers more than 3,600 babies annually at their New Beginning Family Birth Centers, located on the Allentown and Bethlehem campuses. The New Beginnings Family Birth Centers offer parents the comforts of a safe, family-centered atmosphere to welcome their new babies into the world. Additionally, the Centers offer a variety of educational services for new parents, including breastfeeding classes and a breastfeeding answer line that provides information for women who want to breastfeed.

St. Luke’s commitment to providing evidence-based care and improving maternity care practices continues to flourish, as shown by their active participation in the EMPower Breastfeeding initiative. Since joining the EMPower initiative, St. Luke’s has seen increased collaboration between departments providing maternal and infant care. Additionally, they have gained tools to sustain quality improvement and improve maternity care practices. St. Luke’s has implemented a safe Skin-to-Skin program utilizing the RAPP assessment tool and has begun using professionals outside of their network to provide feedback on their progress towards becoming Baby Friendly designated hospitals. The St. Luke’s team hopes that through joining the EMPower Breastfeeding initiative, they will not only see a sustained increase in their own exclusive breastfeeding rates, but an increase in their region’s exclusive breastfeeding rates at 3 and 6 months.

Monongalia General Hospital is located in Morgantown, West Virginia. Morgantown is a metropolitan area with a permanent resident population of 30,133, and ranks as one of the best small cities in the country. Morgantown is also home to West Virginia University, which has an annual enrollment of around 30,000 students and was labeled as a top 20 best college town in 2014. In addition to a thriving college community, the city of Morgantown boasts activities for all ages along Main Street with an eclectic blend of places to eat and events to attend. Permanent and seasonal residents and visitors to this area enjoy the many green spaces surrounding Morgantown, including scenic trails along the Monongahela River.

Exterior of Monongalia General Hospital

Monongalia General Hospital is the flagship member of the Monongalia Health System, which serves the community with a full range of health services. Monongalia General Hospital is a 189-bed general and acute care hospital serving the tristate areas of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Each year the hospital provides services to approximately 9,805 inpatients, 84,745 outpatients and 31,217 emergency patients. Monongalia Health’s mission is to enhance the health of the communities we serve, one person at a time.

Hazel Ruby McQuain Birth Center Room

The Monongalia General Hazel Ruby McQuain Birth Center offers mothers private birthing suites designed to provide a home away from home atmosphere. The Birth Center is designed under the Labor, Delivery, Recovery and Postpartum (LDRP) concept, in which a woman, having a routine labor and delivery, and her newborn remain in the same room throughout their stay. Monongalia General has dedicated staff ready to assist a mother throughout her pregnancy, delivery, and during the first crucial weeks. In addition to labor and delivery care, the hospital offers educational classes including breastfeeding classes to empower families. Breastfeeding assistance also extends beyond the hospital stay, as a Lactation Consultant is available for outpatients as well.

Monongalia General Hospital’s devotion to breastfeeding and improved maternity care practices continues to grow, as demonstrated by their participation in the EMPower Breastfeeding Initiative. The Monongalia General team hopes that through joining the EMPower Initiative, they will see increased initiation and duration of breastfeeding rates in our communities that they serve. Their EMPower breastfeeding coach, Julia Bourg, remarked, “The team from Monongalia General is a talented group and we have enjoyed working with them! They have a true commitment to excellence. Their enthusiasm and multidisciplinary approach results in creative and well executed solutions.” Monongalia General Hospital hopes to be one of the first facilities in West Virginia to complete Baby-Friendly designation. Currently, the hospital is hoping to seek designation in 2017.

The Monongalia General Hospital administration is supportive of their Baby-Friendly journey. The hospital emphasizes the importance of breastfeeding to all staff, not just OB staff, during the initial general hospital orientation. This helps to reinforce to all staff the importance of breastfeeding on all units throughout the hospital and in the Emergency Department. This support was also noted by the hospital’s EMPower QI coach, Lou Anne Crawley-Stout, who stated, “Monongalia General’s belief in quality improvement processes and approaches to better serve their patients propels them to action and excellence. With this teams leadership support, attention to detail, and “can do” spirit, they are well on their way to achieving the Baby Friendly designation.”

Madison, Alabama is one of the fastest growing cities in Alabama. With computer, manufacturing, and aerospace companies as some of the top employers in the city, Madison fosters a booming technology industry, yet still retains the hospitality and friendliness of a small southern city. Education is a top priority in Madison, evident through a renowned school system with high graduation rates; approximately 95% of the adults in the community have at least a high school diploma. Nearby, the city of Huntsville offers a chance to enlighten curiosities through the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, which also serves as the Official Visitor Center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. It’s no wonder that Madison was ranked by CNN/Money as one of the top 50 places to live! The city is truly going places that are out of this world.

Exterior of Madison Hospital

One of the city’s latest developments includes Madison Hospital, a care facility whose mission is to deliver high quality care and services that will improve the health of those they serve. Although the facility opened relatively recently in 2012, it has already established itself as a trusted medical care provider in the community. Madison Hospital is a member of the Huntsville Hospital Health System, and the facility reinvests its revenue to provide advanced medical services and equipment, with the capacity to accommodate 200 beds. The hospital serves a mix of insured patients (~70%), as well as patients that receive various types of public assistance (~30%). With the health of its patients as a priority, Madison Hospital applied to the EMPower initiative as a step towards achieving optimal care for mothers and infants in the community.

Lactation Consultants at Madison Hospital

Since joining the EMPower initiative, Madison Hospital has benefitted from both the financial incentives and from the individualized technical assistance provided by their EMPower Breastfeeding Coach, Julia Bourg, and their EMPower Quality Improvement (QI) Coach, Kori Flower. The hospital team shared, “We cannot say enough how pleased we have been with the coaching dyad. They have been in integral part of our implementation of the Ten Steps and our success thus far. It is like someone took a look through a window in our hospital and picked our coaches just for us. Julia, being from a small southern hospital, truly understands our workflow and the obstacles that we may face. Kori, being a physician, is able to speak to our physicians in a way they understand and respond positively to.” By taking full advantage of the support from the initiative, the Madison Hospital team has turned knowledge into practice, making significant strides in improving maternity care. According to the team at Madison Hospital, “The accomplishments we have been able to make since joining the EMPower initiative are countless, but among the biggest are our rooming-in rates, the improvement in physician and patient communication, and our ability to make change more quickly.” As they continue along the journey in implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding towards Baby-Friendly designation, the facility hopes to see breastfeeding initiation and exclusivity rates, as well as duration, continue to improve in Madison and ultimately the state of Alabama. Their coach Julia remarked, “I have been so impressed with this team’s enthusiasm and positive approach to change. They have been an absolute joy to coach and an inspiration to many facilities.”

Lactivist Award displayed on a board at Madison Hospital

Throughout the initiative, Madison Hospital has exemplified a collaborative spirit by constantly sharing valuable resources and ideas with other EMPower hospitals. Madison Hospital developed a Lactivist Award to showcase the employees and physicians that go above and beyond to make the Ten Steps successful, and the team has shared this creative concept with other EMPower Hospitals in the initiative’s online Community Forum. In addition, during the Hospital Sharing Panel at the Atlanta Learning Collaborative Meeting, the hospital team presented their innovative approach for successfully implementing Step 7 – practicing rooming-in and allowing mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day. Madison Hospital conducted a LEAN project on Decentralization of Neonatal Care, which included assessing current practices and implementing procedural changes to improve flow. This project resulted in increased rooming-in rates and has received positive feedback from mothers. QI coach Kori Flower further highlighted the success of the LEAN project and noted, “The Madison Hospital team really took full advantage of the synergy between their quality improvement methods training in LEAN and the EMPower initiative. They’re an outstanding model for how to use QI methods to implement rooming-in.”

Needless to say, we have been incredibly inspired by Madison Hospital’s engagement and growth in the initiative thus far, and we are excited to see the team’s progress as they continue to demonstrate their commitment to healthy mothers and babies. Keep up the fantastic work, Madison Hospital!

CHRISTUS Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth Health System is located in Beaumont, Texas, a small community of approximately 120,000 that consists of 47% African American, 39% Caucasian, 13% Hispanic and 3% Asian populations. Big industries in the area include oil and gas refineries, and one of the largest oil discoveries in Texas, known as Spindletop, even occurred in Beaumont! Additionally, the area offers higher education through Lamar University, one of the fastest growing universities in the state that brings thousands to the city each year.

Committed to improving maternal and child health, CHRISTUS Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth completed the Texas Ten Step Star Achiever Breastfeeding Learning Collaborative Cohort B, and the facility continues to pursue Baby-Friendly designation by participating in the EMPower initiative. This team joined EMPower to receive guidance on their journey from experienced coaches, with Julia Bourg and Jill Winkler mentoring the facility on breastfeeding and quality improvement procedures. As part of the EMPower initiative, CHRISTUS Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth aims to achieve sustained and significant increased exclusive breastfeeding rates as a result of successful implementation of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. They would also like to see increased buy in from physicians and staff regarding the long-term benefits of skin-to-skin contact, rooming-in and exclusive breastfeeding. St. Elizabeth continues to collaborate with other facilities going through the same trials and changes as they implement the Ten Steps.

“Mommy-Baby Nap Time” poster

One of St. Elizabeth’s most noteworthy accomplishments involves Step 7, which is to practice rooming-in, allowing mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day. The facility implemented their rooming-in initiative in October 2015, transitioning all newborn care to the mother’s rooms. “Mommy- Baby Nap Time” has been a significant part of their success with the rooming-in initiative. St. Elizabeth created “Mommy-Baby Nap Time” signs that go on the mom’s door, and at 12:45 p.m. each day, an overhead announcement is given to remind visitors of the importance of uninterrupted rest for their new moms and babies. Large posters announcing the “Mommy-Baby Nap Time” are also placed at each elevator on the Maternal Child floor. The team noted that moms have responded very positively about this nap time. In addition, the facility has created and implemented Baby-Friendly recommended staff education materials for facility-wide and maternal child specific topics. Resources developed by the team include skin-to-skin “Golden Hour” door signs, rooming-in posters, “benefits of exclusive breastfeeding” and “donor human milk” parent consent forms, and check-off skills guidelines for annual breastfeeding skills competencies. Resources given to all new mother patients include a prenatal breastfeeding guide and a resource bag. The team also utilizes data collection tools and excel spreadsheets to track patient information for the Ten Steps.

The CHRISTUS Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth team shared, “The main piece of information that we have learned regarding this EMPower collaboration with other hospitals is that we are all facing the same challenges. When we share ideas and information about what worked and what did not work during these huge change endeavors, it makes the whole process less stressful. Secondly, having coaches who have actually achieved the goal that we are pursuing is a huge advantage. Being able to ask specific questions throughout the Baby-Friendly journey is invaluable; each step, each survey, each perceived roadblock…our coaches have an answer or guidance in how to keep moving forward.”

The Breastfeeding Task Force at CHRISTUS Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth

Jill Winkler, the facility’s Quality Improvement Coach, shared, “At the time of our initial visit and meeting at CHRISTUS Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth there was palpable excitement in the air. The team gathered were diverse and represented various areas of the organization. Having already accomplished a great deal of work through the Texas Ten Step initiative, what remained would be the HARD work. That being, the Work of Change. Change of long held behaviors and practices by many involved. As much as the tangible excitement was present, there was also a detectable sense of “Will we be able to accomplish this?” This hospital team has been relentless in its pursuit of excellence through evidence-based practices and are walking the path step-by-step, approaching each challenge through small tests of change utilizing PDSA cycles. They have ‘touched’ every area within and outside their system to ensure mother baby dyads will be provided education from the beginning of a mother’s pregnancy through to support after leaving the hospital. It has been a pleasure to work with CHRISTUS Health Southeast St. Elizabeth as they pursue their Baby-Friendly designation.”

Keep up the fantastic work, CHRISTUS Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth! We are amazed by your dedication to improving the health of mothers and infants and look forward to more innovations from your facility.

Abington, Pennsylvania is one of the oldest communities in Montgomery County, dating back before 1700. This area is home to the county’s oldest transportation routes, industries and churches, as well as a few of Montgomery County’s largest employers, including Abington Hospital – Jefferson Health. Today, Abington Township is a desirable residential area situated 13 miles outside of Philadelphia, PA. With a population over 55,000, Abington Township is the second largest township in Montgomery County.

Abington Hospital – Jefferson Health Team at a Kickoff Meeting

Abington Hospital is a part of Abington-Jefferson Health, which also includes Abington – Lansdale Hospital in Hatfield Township, two urgent care centers, and five convenient outpatient facilities, serving patients from Montgomery, Bucks, and Philadelphia counties. Founded in 1914, Abington Hospital is the largest community teaching hospital in Montgomery or Bucks counties. The hospital sponsors five residency programs in family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, general surgery, and dentistry. As a regional leader in caring for women’s health, Abington Hospital offers women a range of gynecology and maternity services.

“We’re Expecting! Baby Friendly 2017” Button

The hospital is equipped with a Level 3 NICU and 10 bed antepartum unit with 24/7 Maternal/Fetal Medicine coverage. Abington Hospital maternity care services deliver more than 5,000 births annually. A quarter of the 5,000 babies delivered are born to mothers who obtained their prenatal care at the OB/GYN Center, a clinic for underinsured and uninsured women in the area. Abington Hospital also has a Newborn Center that provides care to uninsured newborns up to 3 months of age.

Poster on one of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding

Abington Hospital is committed to implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and working toward Baby-Friendly designation. This team joined the EMPower Breastfeeding initiative to gain quality improvement support and individualized counseling to help improve maternity care practices. Since joining the EMPower initiative, Abington Hospital has created an engaged interdisciplinary Baby-Friendly Committee to work toward their goal of Baby-Friendly designation. In addition to the nursing staff, four full time lactation consultants, including one night lactation consultant, serve on the committee. As part of the EMPower initiative, Abington Hospital aims to improve existing or design new work processes to support women with breastfeeding and ultimately hopes to increase the number of women who are exclusively breastfeeding their infants when they are discharged from the hospital. With the guidance of the EMPower quality improvement coaching, Abington Hospital has been working diligently to put data collection systems in place to track their progress, and they have been testing a variety of changes related to skin-to-skin using Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles in the Labor and Delivery department. Their recent focus is on improving their rooming in rates. Their coaches include Gigi Lawless, the facility’s Breastfeeding Coach, as well as Sue Butts-Dion, the Quality Improvement Coach. Gigi shared, “Abington has been incredible to work with. They have engaged with the coaching dyad to ensure they are optimizing resources and moving forward. They actively participate in collaborative activities and are on a great pathway to achieving Baby-Friendly Designation.”

The EMPower Breastfeeding initiative is pleased to share the first issue of the EMPower Newsletter. This newsletter was created as a means of communicating exciting initiative related information to our partners and colleagues in the field to keep you abreast of our progress. We thank you for your support and look forward to sharing many more successes with you!

When planning a change, it is important to build knowledge through small-scale Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycles before implementing the change broadly. Trialing on a small scale helps you not only ensure the change actually results in an improvement, but it also helps you fine-tune the change to best fit your organization. This excerpt from The Improvement Guide (provided on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s website) helps you think through how small your initial test should be by focusing on how confident you are in the change and the risks associated with failure. For example, you may have high confidence that physicians rounding in the room will lead to improvement, but the cost of failure is large because new equipment must be purchased and staff can be resistant. In this case, you would want to test first with only one doctor and one baby, and you would complete many PDSA cycles before implementation. Not all changes, however, must be tested on a scale this small. For example, if you have high confidence that “cuddle time” will lead to improvement and there are low risks associated with failure, then you can trial on a larger scale first. Using a table, like the one below, can help you identify what size test you should start with.

UMC’s East Tower (home of the Family Birth Center and Family Care Unit)

Located in the northwestern region of Texas called the South Plains, Lubbock is fondly known as “Hub City” due to its intersection by five major highways. The accessibility of the city has contributed to its development as a center of bustling economic, cultural, educational, and healthcare opportunities. As the 11th largest city in Texas, Lubbock has a population of over 321,000 that is continuing to grow; Hispanics or Latinos represent about 17% of the population, while non-Hispanic Whites account for about 62%. The city’s deep agricultural roots are exemplified by a historical cotton industry that continues to thrive; farmers are currently producing two to three million bales of cotton every year! In addition, Lubbock is home to a rich arts and culture scene that has yielded musical legends such as Buddy Holly and Waylon Jennings. Texas Tech University also attracts thousands of scholars and visitors every year, energizing the city through spirited sporting events and research discoveries. Through a partnership with Texas Tech University, University Medical Center (UMC) contributes to the groundbreaking research and innovative technology, which includes a number of nationally recognized clinical trials in breast and prostate cancers.

UMC’s Family Birth Center Lobby

University Medical Center is not only a pioneer in the research field, but also a leader in comprehensive healthcare delivery in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. UMC is one of only two hospitals in Texas with both a Level 1 Trauma Center and a Regional Burn Center. The UMC Health System is comprised of a main campus and 23 regional health centers operated by UMC Physician Network Services, and together, more than 400,000 patients a year have come to expect UMC’s dedication to service. As a national leader in patient satisfaction, UMC is ranked among the top 10 percent in the nation by HealthGrades and is a winner of the Press Ganey Beacon of Excellence Award.

UMC hangs these Skin to Skin posters in every delivery room

As a facility that serves many clients with diverse needs, UMC plays an important part in improving the health of the community, especially mothers and infants. As an example of their extensive role in providing maternal-child care, UMC performed 3141 deliveries in 2015, which accounted for 56% of the new births in Lubbock. Furthermore, UMC has maintained a cesarean section rate of <20%, which is well below the national average. UMC caters to their patients, and their commitment to care can be further illustrated through their unwavering journey to implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and achieve Baby-Friendly Designation.

In 2012, UMC embarked on Baby-Friendly’s 4-D Pathway to advance the level of care provided to breastfeeding mothers and their babies, and their Family Birth Center and Family Care Unit began to follow the Family Centered Maternity Care model and the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding in order to educate and support patients. While UMC persisted in their efforts to enhance maternity care, they remained in the D3 Dissemination Phase of Baby-Friendly’s 4-D Pathway for longer than expected. In 2015, UMC learned about the EMPower initiative through their collaboration with the Texas 10 Step Star Achiever program and felt that participating in EMPower would lead to mutual benefits. After applying and becoming accepted into the EMPower initiative, the EMPower coaching dyad of Julia Bourg and Jill Winkler began to mentor the facility on breastfeeding and quality improvement procedures. As the facility moved into the D4 Designation phase and prepared for their assessment visit by Baby-Friendly USA, Julia and Jill conducted a coach visit to UMC to provide additional feedback to the hospital team. According to the UMC team, “the fresh eyes and outside perspective of our facility from Julia and Jill were invaluable in our preparatory efforts!”

A mother practicing rooming in with her baby

UMC’s dedication to providing an optimal level of care to mothers and babies was recently recognized by Baby-Friendly USA – as of March 2016, University Medical Center has become a Baby-Friendly designated facility. Julia, the facility’s EMPower Breastfeeding Coach, reflected on her impression of UMC’s journey: “Their data driven, methodical approach to Ten Step implementation was evident when we visited. This team was a lot of fun, very persistent, and extremely well organized which contributed greatly to their success!” UMC is now the 16th designated facility in Texas and the 1st in the West Texas Panhandle.

UMC’s Employee Pump Room (for breastfeeding employees)

As a newly designated facility, UMC’s focus has shifted to quality improvement. They are open to sharing all of their resources and tools with hospitals in the EMPower initiative and hope to gain new knowledge and ideas to further enhance their care delivery at UMC. In addition, UMC is serving as a mentor for other EMPower facilities, and they have shared the following: “Just keep striving! […] After implementing a process improvement plan and strengthening our prenatal education, we were able to achieve our designation! We encourage other facilities to COLLECT DATA and improve processes based on your results. The data speaks for itself, and really drives the improvement!”

Congratulations, University Medical Center! We are amazed by your dedication to mothers and infants and look forward to more remarkable contributions from your facility.